This invention relates to improvements in headliners.
Vehicle headliners are typically placed along the ceiling of a vehicle. Headliners include a plurality of layers of distinct materials designed to, in combination, absorb sound, have rigidity and strength and also to provide a pleasing visual appearance. Typically, a number of layers of different materials are used to achieve the various desired properties. Often, fiberglass layers are used. There is a desire to eliminate fiberglass in headliners as it irritates assembly workers.
Headliners also desirably have sufficient flexibility such that they may be slightly bent upon insertion into the vehicle without damage. There are some headliner configurations which are so stiff, that if a corner bumps into a component of the vehicle frame, as an example, when the headliner is being mounted in the vehicle, the headliner may crack.
Headliners are known which allow flexibility and resilience such that they will not become damaged if they do bump into a vehicle frame component. However, these headliners have typically been more proposals than actual production quality headliner materials. In general, these proposals have been unduly simplistic, and would not achieve all of the modern functional requirements of a headliner.